It’s often, and rightly, said that there’s a housing crisis in Britain. Few aspects of this are more concerning than the shortage of homes which are offer social rent or, by the slightly disingenuous official definition, “affordable”.

Councils have lost the will and the skills to build, housing associations aren’t taking up the slack and private developers will generally only provide such of these properties are they’re compelled to. The ball is therefore in many ways in the court of local communities which can create homes for their communities through land trusts and rural exception sites – and through not only maintaining existing almshouses but also, as is the case with an excellent scheme in Lambourn, creating new ones.

The Lambourn Almshouses website provides the following summary of the history and current importance of this form of housing:

“Today there are over 1,700 independent almshouse charities providing homes for around 35,000 residents throughout the UK. Each almshouse charity is now regulated by a scheme approved by the Charity Commission and administered by a board of volunteer trustees. Such schemes mandate the organisation of the charity, the management of its assets and criteria for appointing residents.”

It adds that the known history of almshouses in Lambourn dates back to at least the time of Henry VI in 1446, a proud tradition which The Almshouses of John Isbury & Jacob Hardrett continues to this day.

The website offers the following summary of the project:

“With the closure of the Methodist chapel the trustees of the Lambourn Almshouses recognised its potential to provide further homes. The site was purchased in 2017. Nestling between the Isbury and Hardrett’s Almshouses, the trustees imagined a continuous site of almshouses stretching from Isbury, through the chapel site and into that of Hardrett’s.

“The chapel is a Grade 2 listed building which demands sensitive development. The Charity instructed architects to develop a plan that provides four apartments on two floors within the existing chapel building and a further five in an appropriately styled building to replace the current schoolroom annex and adjoining caretaker’s cottage. Planning approval and Listed Building Consent have been granted and the Trustees look forward to bringing this project to fruition, providing a further nine much needed homes for those in need in Lambourn.”

June 2025 update

Despite what was hoped last month (see below), the scaffolding has still not come down: does that mean that there’s a problem, we asked the Clerk of the Trustees, Peter Penfold? Has something unexpected cropped up, as it can do with hold buildings (and has done with this one)?

“Not at all,” he told us. “The work continues to go very well. It was just felt that it would be better to keep it up for a bit longer as there were some more tasks that could more easily be done with this in place. We hope that it will soon be removed and people will be able to see how much has been accomplished. I’m looking forward to seeing the results without the scaffolding myself…”

As for the funding, he told me that a number of the large grants which had been promised are starting to come through now that the approximate half-way stage has been reached. Charities and trusts are rightly careful about what they agree to donate to, which must accord with their stated aims. They will be similarly cautious about the exact point when the release the funds. This can be a challenge for projects such as this that need to keep the work going. So far, though, there seem to be no hold-ups, for this or any other reason.

As mentioned before, donations from the local community are also welcomed: see the link at the foot of the article for the best way of doing this.

May 2025 update

On 9 May 2025 we again contacted Peter Penfold, the Clerk of the Trustees, to find out how things were coming along.

“Very well,” he told us. “However, because the work is now mainly indoors and the scaffolding is still up, there’s not a lot to see from the outside. That doesn’t mean that things aren’t happening…”

The walls, for example, is now at first-floor level and the sash windows are being installed. There are also some partly aesthetic discussions going on about matters such as bricks and paving slabs.

“We hope that in a few weeks the scaffolding will be down,” Peter continued. “People will then see some real changes compared to how it was before. We’re really delighted that this beautiful building is being given a new lease of life – and a new function.”

Donations are still welcome via the Good Exchange link (see below). Further updates will be provided when the next milstone has been reached.

March 2025 update

The project continues to progress well on all fronts.

The building work itself is basically in two parts: the renovation of the old Methodist chapel; and the construction of the new building adjacent to it. Peter Penfold, the Clerk of the Trustees, confirmed on 7 March that both had recently reached important stages.

The chapel is now waterproof and most of the major structural work has been done. “Old buildings always have a capacity for springing surprises,” he told us. “You can discover walls within walls – or walls that should be there but aren’t – defective foundations, rotten woodwork: all kinds of thing can crop up, often at the most inconvenient times. We’ve been pretty lucky so far but are relieved that all these uncertianties should now be behind us.”

As for the new part, that’s now built up to the damp course and the walls should start to go up this month. This is a stage that tends to happen fairly quickly – as with so many projects, it’s the preparation and the finishing off that takes the time.

Then there’s the question of the money. Another milestone has recently been passed here, with the project having met its match-funding target on The Good Exchange website. Does this mean, we asked Peter, that you have all the financing you need?

“Sadly not,” he replied. “The Good Exchange will match fund up to a certain level of donations – £100,000 in our case – and that total’s now been reached. However, there’s still another £800,000 or so to go. Any donations made now therefore won’t get match funded – but they will attract Gift Aid if people are entitled to that.” He therefore encouraged people to continue to make donations on The Good Exchange.

£800,000 is going to take a lot of raising and, with the best will in the world, isn’t likely entirely to come from local residents. “Indeed not,” he agreed, “though of course we welcome every pound towards to this important project. We’re in discussions with a number of significant donors. Some of these will only contribute when a project has reached a particular stage, often fifty percent completion, which we aren’t quite at yet.”

How about the completion date, originally scheduled for mid-January 2026: is the scheme still on course for that? “At the moment, very much so,” Peter Penfold confirmed. ‘All the fingers are being kept crossed but things seem to be going very well. As I mentioned last time, huge credit goes to all the people at Heritage Construction who’ve been working so hard on this.”

Finally, I asked him about what he found the most satisfying part of the project. “Apart from the progress, the thing that gives me the most pleasure is the level of community support,” he replied. “It’s very clear that this is a popular scheme. I often get stopped in the street by people asking me how it’s going and to say how much they’re looking forward to seeing it finished. Knowing that the village is behind us makes such a difference. It also makes me even keener to ensure that we don’t disappoint them…”

January 2025 update

This project is now well under way. On 11 January we caught up with Peter Penfold, the Clerk of the Trustees, to see how the building work was going.

“As these pictures [see the top of the post] show, the development of the Methodist Chapel site to construct new homes for the Lambourn Almshouses is progressing well, he told us. “Despite the biting cold, construction work on the Almshouse development project is steaming ahead beautifully.”

“The chapel now boasts a brand-new roof, the east wall has been completely rebuilt and has been successfully tied into the chalk blocks of the north wall, preserving the structural integrity and historic character of this Grade 2 listed building – and it’s looking fantastic. This is a significant step that ensures the building is weatherproof and ready for further internal work.

“The floor slab has been poured, neatly covering the new drains beneath. On top of the slab, the interior walls of the flats are starting to take shape. They’re being built with solid blockwork, which means the flats will be wonderfully soundproof, well-insulated and built to last. Openings have been made in the walls to accept new windows, transforming the space into a functional and modern living environment while respecting the heritage of the site

“Outside, the drainage work is also moving along nicely, with the system eventually set to connect to the main sewer in Oxford Street.

“Hats off to the team at Heritage Construction—what a cracking job they’re doing!”

Further updates will be provided as available.

Fundraising

Donations are, as the website also explains, vital to the ongoing work of The Lambourn Almshouses, “playing a crucial role in both the upkeep of the existing homes and the development of our ambitious project to build nine new residences. These contributions ensure that we can maintain high-quality living conditions for current residents, while also expanding our capacity to support more individuals in need.

“We are especially fortunate to have the generous backing of Greenham Trust, which has agreed to match every donation made, up to £100,000. This incredible opportunity allows every contribution to have double the impact, helping us to secure the future of the almshouses and provide much-needed housing for those in our community.”

Please click here to visit The Good Exchange website in order to help support this important project.